A divided Supreme Court ruled against the Navajo Nation on Thursday, finding that an 1868 treaty does not require the U.S. to take affirmative steps to secure water for the tribe on a reservation.
The 5-4 decision, written by Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, concluded that the treaty “reserved necessary water to accomplish the purpose of the Navajo Reservation,” and that it is “not the Judiciary’s role to rewrite and update this 155-year-old treaty.”
“Rather, Congress and the President may enact — and often have enacted — laws to assist the citizens of the western United States, including the Navajos, with their water needs,” Kavanaugh wrote in the majority opinion.
